Primerica sues Osaic for $50 million
Primerica has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Osaic Wealth of staging a coordinated raid on its Hurricane, West Virginia branch — an office that served 2,800 clients, managed more than $530 million in assets, and held $184 million in life insurance coverage.
According to the complaint, Osaic “launched such an attack” to take a group of seven Primerica representatives — including four Regional Vice Presidents — who collectively serviced over 2,500 clients. Primerica says it had invested “substantial time, energy, money, and other resources” in training and developing the reps before they were induced to leave.
At the center of the allegations is Osaic’s use of large, forgivable-loan recruiting packages that Primerica frames as “lucrative bounty” payments.
The filing claims the loans are structured to be forgiven only if the rep stays long enough and moves “enough” business from their prior firm — a design Primerica says intentionally promotes contract violations.
The suit also accuses the reps of acting as “double agents” while still inside Primerica. One RVP allegedly increased system activity from one account per day to 36, accessed nearly 200 bank-detail records in two weeks, ran a full A-to-Z search of more than 1,600 clients in a single day, and dramatically increased redemption activity in client accounts. Two additional reps allegedly accessed 80–90 client accounts each — also far above normal levels.
Primerica says this activity was part of a premeditated plan to extract client data, prepare transfers, and time an en masse resignation. Six representatives resigned within two business days — October 17 and 20 — taking with them more than 96% of the branch’s AUM.
Within hours, the group rebranded the same physical office under a newly formed RIA, Legacy Investment Advisors, and began soliciting Primerica clients via social posts and an “open house.” The filing notes Legacy was created just days before the departures and describes it as a vehicle “specifically for the purpose of moving licensed representatives and customer relationships from Primerica to Osaic.”
Primerica calls Osaic’s conduct part of a broader business model and cites similar disputes. “This is not the first time in recent years that Osaic has been sued for its unlawful business practices. For example, in February of 2024, The Prudential Insurance Company of America and Pruco Securities, LLC sued Osaic for tortious interference with contracts and business relations, unfair competition and false advertising, and violations of the Defend Trade Secrets Act and the South Dakota Uniform Trade Secrets Act.”
The company is seeking more than $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages, along with injunctions blocking Osaic and Legacy from using any Primerica data or contacting its agents.
